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MPs slam plan to burn hazardous solvents

17 June 1995

By Andy Coghlan

A PLAN by cement manufacturers to use waste industrial solvents as fuel came under fire from MPs this week. The cement makers hope to save money by burning the chemicals in their kilns, but the House of Commons Select Committee on the Environment argues that the solvents should be defined not as fuel but as hazardous waste.

The cement industry wants to replace some of the coal it burns with cheap “secondary liquid fuel”, which is mostly made up of reblended solvents discarded by the chemicals and pharmaceuticals industries. Opponents argue that burning the chemicals releases potentially harmful contaminants such as dioxins and heavy metals, and that they should be treated as hazardous waste.

The MPs agree. “We want this brought under the hazardous waste regulations, which are quite substantial,” says Andrew Bennett, the Labour MP who is chairman of the committee. Listing the chemicals as hazardous waste would force cement manufacturers to apply for their kilns to be redefined as high-temperature waste incinerators. They would then have to meet strict antipollution standards, and would be subject to planning laws that require public inquiries into the siting of all incinerators.

“We think local people deserve to have a say at public inquiries, and that there should be full consultation before this practice is allowed,” says Bennett. He also says that to improve safety, tankers carrying the chemicals should be subject to hazardous waste legislation, which imposes tougher conditions than the law covering transport of fuel.

The MPs criticise Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Pollution for not carrying out strict enough tests during trials of the fuels in cement and lime kilns. They call for further studies of the hazards posed by dust particles released from the kilns, and health surveys of animals and people living nearby.